Hope For The Cavs in Game 3 of the Finals

It’s hard to be positive after last night’s performance. After a great start in the 1st half, the Cavs collapsed in the 3rd quarter and it ended in a blowout. Most are already writing off this Cavs team already even though they started last year’s Finals in a 0-2 hole.

It is still too early to call this series over. We haven’t seen the Cavs play their best basketball yet. Since we haven’t seen what the game would be like if they played at the level they’re capable of playing, I don’t think it’s fair to say this series is over already. Now, their best may end up not being enough against this Warriors team, but because we haven’t seen it yet that’s why I still have hope for Games 3 and 4 at home.

Excluding LeBron and Kevin Love, nobody else on the team has shown up or done anything. Kyrie has been extremely inefficient on offense and has been exposed on defense. JR has only taken five shots and has reverted to his old self on defense. Shump and Deron have been ice cold. Korver, who finally made a couple threes in Game 2, has shot a horrible percentage from deep. Tristan has seemed lost and has been out-rebounded by Steph Curry for the series!

I believe some of this can be attributed to a tougher matchup for them versus what they saw in the Eastern Conference. On top of being one of the best on offense, the Warriors are the best defensive team in the NBA. Even KD is playing stellar defense. That doesn’t excuse two Cavs starters going scoreless and being ineffective for both games though.

The 0-2 start doesn’t make winning these next two games any more important than they already were to me. From the beginning, I felt that it would be impossible to win this series without taking these two games at home. That was regardless of how these first two games went. I didn’t feel there was any way this Warriors squad could possibly blow the series lead like last year.

If the Cavs are able to play their best in the next two games and still lose, then we know it was never meant to be. But since we haven’t seen them play well yet, I really don’t think we can say this series is over before Game 3 at home.